Norm Kaye ("Coach K") founded the

Sunshine State Conference The Sunshine State Conference is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. All of its member institutions are located in the state of Florida, which is popularly k ...

(SSC) of the U.S.

National Collegiate Athletics Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and 1 in Canada. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and helps ...

(NCAA) in 1975 in Florida. The SSC is one of the

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is the intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environment ...

sports conferences in the United States, having won 83 national championships. The six charter conference members were: Biscayne College (now called St. Thomas University), Florida Technological University (now

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in unincorporated area, unincorporated Orange County, Florida, United States. It is part of the State University System of Florida. ...

Eckerd College Eckerd College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. Founded in 1958, part of the campus is waterfront (area), waterfront and beach on Boca Ciega ...

, Florida Southern,

Rollins College Rollins College is a Liberal arts college, private liberal arts college in Winter Park, Florida. It was founded in November 1885 and has about 30 undergraduate majors and several master's programs. Florida's fourth oldest post-secondary institut ...

, and Saint Leo College. At the time of the conference's founding, Kaye was

Athletic Director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches a ...

and Head Basketball Coach at Saint Leo College (now Saint Leo University). Kaye served as Commissioner of the SSC in its first year of existence, and then served as Executive Director of the conference for the following 12 years. He was instrumental in building the Saint Leo athletic program over the course of five decades. He pioneered the professional physical education program at Saint Leo, which included Sports Management, Teacher Education, and General Physical Education. In 1977 he was named Chairman of the Division of Physical Education. Kaye also served Saint Leo for a three-year period as Dean of Student Affairs and Director of Financial Aid. Kaye is credited with coaching and mentoring hundreds of successful athletes and students. Notable Saint Leo baseball players who played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

include Fred Cambria, Brian Dayett, Bob Tewksbury, and Jim Corsi. J. P. Ricciardi played baseball for Saint Leo and afterwards in the minor leagues before becoming a scout in the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (frequently referred to as the Oakland A's) were an American Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Oakland, California from 1968 to 2024. The Athletics were a member club of the American League (AL) American League We ...

organization and later a front office position. Ricciardi later became General Manager of the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...

and is special assistant to

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...

General Manager

Sandy Alderson Richard Lynn "Sandy" Alderson (born November 22, 1947) is an American baseball executive. He was the president of various Major League Baseball teams, including the New York Mets. He previously served as the general manager of the New York Mets f ...

. Current

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General Manager Brian Sabean was an assistant baseball coach at Saint Leo. In 1984 Kaye hired former Major League Baseball

Cy Young Award The Cy Young Award is given annually to the best pitchers in Major League Baseball (MLB), one each for the American League (AL) and National League (baseball), National League (NL). The award was introduced in 1956 by Commissioner of Baseball ( ...

Winner Mike Marshall to be head baseball coach at Saint Leo. Mark Carlson, a former student

sports information director A sports information director is a type of public relations worker who provides statistics, team, and player notes, as well as other information about a college or university's sports teams to the news media and public. Abbreviated as "SID," sports ...

for Kaye, is current Director of Broadcasting for the

United States Golf Association The United States Golf Association (USGA) is the United States national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the rule ...

(USGA).

Awards

Kaye was inducted into the Illinois

Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pres ...

. Kaye was inducted into the Saint Leo Hall of Fame in 1991.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaye, Norm Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American men's basketball coaches Basketball coaches from Florida Saint Leo Lions athletic directors Saint Leo Lions men's basketball coaches Sunshine State Conference commissioners